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| Thursday, 28 October 2004 |
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Dyson praises Lanka toughness KARACHI, Wednesday, Sri Lanka coach John Dyson is delighted his side is starting to emulate some of the toughness of Australia. Dyson was reflecting on Sri Lanka's first Test win over Pakistan at Faisalabad and looking forward to Thursday's second Test in Karachi. "We have learnt from our defeats against Australia as we were in an awkward position in Faisalabad and we fought our way out of it." he said. "I am pleased that the boys have shown they are able to do that." Sri Lanka lost all three Tests to world champions Australia at home in March, then lost one of their two Tests when they toured down under in June and July. Australian Dyson played 30 Tests and 29 one-day internationals for his country in the late 1970s and early 1980s, said his players were measuring their standards against the world champions. "If you are rated number one in the world in both forms of the game, obviously you are the benchmark and Australians are the benchmark," he added. "We had a good series against Australia and they beat us. I think we played very good cricket but they are a good enough team to fight out in awkward positions and win the match." Dyson, who took over as Sri Lankan coach in June last year, gave particular praise to Thilan Samaraweera for scoring a century in the first innings of the Fasisalabad Test, and Sanath Jayasuriya for his epic 253 in the second innings. "I think we fought back well from the position of 9-3 and our batsmen, led by Samaraweera, fought well to give us a chance to set up the rest of the match," he said. "Sanath's innings was absolutely a fantastic innings and that sort of innings you look for from your champion player and Sanath is a champion player in anyone's book." Sri Lanka are now aiming for a hat-trick of series wins in Pakistan after defeating their opponents on their two previous tours in 1995 and 1999. Dyson said an important part of measuring Sri Lanka's improvement was how they performed overseas. "We have identified that winning outside Sri Lanka is necessary to raise the profile of Sri Lankan cricket all round and we must also play well in England, Australia and South Africa," he added. Sri Lanka's next tour is of Bangladesh for two Tests in November, followed by a two-Test series, and five one-day internationals in New Zealand in January. (BBC) |
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